A disgraced dean at St John's University in New York has committed suicide after she went on trial for embezzling $1million and forcing students to work as her servants, it was claimed on Tuesday.

Dr Cecilia Chang, 59, who was in charge of the university's Asian studies program, was found dead in her Jamaica Estates home in Queens one day after she testified at her own trial and denied taking money from the university.

Dr Chang, who was nicknamed 'the Dean of Mean,' was also reportedly a suspect in the 1990 murder of her first husband, who was shot three times in the back by an unknown assassin.

Accused: Dr Cecilia Chang, who was found dead in her home on Tuesday, allegedly embezzled $1million from St John's University, where she worked

According to the New York Post, law enforcement sources discovered her body at her home about 7.30am on Tuesday.

he had been on house arrest since she was first charged with the crimes.

A member of Chang's legal team knocked on her door Tuesday morning, the Post reports, to pick her up for court, got no answer and smelled gas.

Authorities were called, broke into the home and discovered her body.

A source told theNew York Daily Newsshe hanged herself from a folding ladder leading to the attic after she had also slashed her own wrists.

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On Monday, she had taken the stand at her trial and said she was innocent of allegations that she forced her students to wash her underwear by hand and cook her meals.'Shakespearean tragedy.'

The judge presiding over the case had her responses stricken dozens of times as she refused to answer with simple yeses or nos, instead giving lengthy answers.

The judge presiding over the trial, federal Judge Sterling Johnson Jr., called her death a 'Shakespearean tragedy.' on Tuesday after he was told of her suicide.

'Dean of Mean': Dr Chang earned a reputation for treating her students like indentured servants -- making them cook for her and do her laundry

Despite a mountain of evidence that
university money had been transferred to foreign bank accounts, Dr Chang
repeatedly pleaded ignorance in court Monday.

When asked why she told police that
she didn't have money in foreign bank accounts -- even though records
show she had $200,000 stashed in Hong Kong -- she claimed that she had
forgotten about that account because she had been drinking before the
police interview.

She said she also forgot about $40,000 she had in another account.

Dr Chang said her students cooked meals for at St John's Asia Studies Center -- but only because the students prepared food for everyone who stayed there.

She said students had washed her laundry -- but only rarely.

Former students of the program had testified that they felt like indentured servants because they were afraid they would lose their scholarships if they refused to do work for her.